Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has narrowed the list of teams he's willing to sign with to the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels, according to a report in a a Japanese newspaper.

And of those three, the Yankees are the favorite, according to the report.

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times translated the article from Sports Hochi. Hernandez, though, advised taking the report with a grain of salt, given the inaccurate reports about Tanaka that have surfaced in Japanese media in the past.

Tanaka, 25, was 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA last year for the Japan Series champion Rakuten Golden Eagles, who made him available under the new posting system. He reportedly met with as many as 12 major league clubs during a trip to the United States last week. The Chicago White Sox are the only team that publicly acknowledged a meeting.

Under the new posting system, the fee payable to the Japanese club is capped at $20 million and the player can negotiate with all big league teams willing to pay the posting amount.

Big league clubs have until 5 p.m. on Jan. 24 to sign the star 25-year-old right-hander.